EditorialBloomberg for mayor Four years ago, we said Mike Bloomberg lacked the experience to be a good mayor and we endorsed his opponent. We were wrong and no one is happier about that than us. Mayor Bloomberg has been the best mayor this city has had in recent times, and he has earned another four years.

The Penny PostChoosing your caveBy Andrei Codrescu
I heard that some Tibetan monks meditate in caves for years and, when they are ready, they stop eating and pass away quietly, leaving behind their mummified forms in the lotus position. Sounds good to me. Weve been looking at caves in Arkansas and Missouri, the cave states, and found restaurants in caves, drive-through caves, show caves and doomsday-waiting caves.

Downtown Express photo by Elisabeth RobertDry but coolWith the deluge of rain the last few weeks, Downtowners have had few chances to dine al fresco  so a few visitors to the Stone Street Historic District were undaunted by temperatures dipping below 50 degrees Wednesday.

ObituaryArman, 76, renowned Tribeca artist who used trash, diesBy Albert Amateau
Arman, the sculptor internationally famous for combining found objects and all kinds of junk and who had a home and studio in Tribeca and an outdoor metal studio on Canal St. for 27 years, died at home Sat. Oct. 22 at the age of 76.

NEWSNew principal to takes reins at P.S. 150By Ronda Kaysen
Maggie Siena, once an assistant principal at a top Downtown elementary school and co-founder of a Tweed Courthouse learning center, has been tapped as principal of P.S. 150 in Tribeca.Assembly seat opens as Sanders resignsBy Lincoln Anderson
In a surprise move that is sending ripples of political speculation through the East Side, Assemblymember Steve Sanders last week announced he will not finish out the second year of his current two-year term and will retire from the Assembly on Jan. 1, 2006.

Downtown Express photo by Elisabeth RobertA protestor taped her mouth shut at a Lower Manhattan Development Corp. open house in which the public was not allowed to speak to the audience.

L.M.D.C. pummeled at public meetingBy Ronda Kaysen
The last thing the embattled Lower Manhattan Development Corporation needed this week was a public relations snafu. But that is exactly what the agency got when it hosted an open house about the demolition of 130 Liberty St.

INSIDE

Planning for Governors Island continues its slow driftBy Daniel Wallace
Governors Island from an aerial view within New York Harbor looks like a flattened ice-cream cone. But to many New Yorkers awaiting the islands development, it looks more like the lone piece of a puzzle that has been abandoned.

Southbridge Towers votes to study going privateBy Vanessa Romo
Proponents of a study analyzing the effects of privatizing Southbridge Towers, a Mitchell-Lama co-op, celebrated a double victory last week. A referendum to move forward with the study was passed with overwhelming support; shareholders voted 2 to 1 in favor of the study that could cost up to $25,000. And a vote on a tax abatement program that would require the 1651-unit co-op to remain in Mitchell-Lama for another 15 years, scheduled for Oct. 26 and 27, was canceled.

More doubts cast on fate of W.T.C. performance spaceBy Ronda Kaysen
Will the cultural and performing arts centers at the new World Trade Center ever be built, or have the plans been tossed out with the International Freedom Center? When NY1 sought out answers from Gretchen Dykstra last week, the Memorial Foundations president and C.E.O. ducked the question a few times.

A devotion to poetry that has lasted a lifetimeBy Caitlin Eichelberger
A humble studio apartment on Harrison St. hints that it is home to a writer: bookshelves packed with poetry anthologies line the walls, file cabinets brimming with clips create makeshift nightstands and a quiet typewriter rests in the corner.

Neighbors sing different tunes to PianosBy Ellen Keohane
At 11 on Friday night, about 30 people lingered outside Pianos, a three-story bar-club-restaurant in the Lower East Side. On the sidewalk, smokers exhaled into the cool fall air. Others talked loudly into their cell phones. One clearly intoxicated young woman let out a high-pitched squeal before running into the arms of a friend she had been waiting for. Drivers, lined up along Ludlow and Stanton Sts., honked their horns as people jumped in and out of waiting taxis.

Trip to the mall proves anything but pedestrianBy Daniel Wallace
Tempers flared Thursday on the Allen Street Mall between Delancey and Broome Sts. at a Parks Department scoping meeting to gather community suggestions for the development of the mall.

DowntownArts & Entertainment

Ashley Montana dips its toes in uncharted watersBy Scott Harrah
Back in 1991, model Ashley Montana posed for the cover of Sports Illustrateds annual Swimsuit Issue. The gorgeous blonde was shown frolicking in the Caribbean while sporting a white, one-piece bathing suit that barely covered her derriere. The cover caption read Ashley Montana Goes Ashore in the Caicos.

When the message is too loud for the mediumBy Steven Snyder
Some movies hit the audience over the head with their message. North Country feels more like incessant bludgeoning. This incredible, true-to-life tale of sexual harassment is set in northern Minnesota, more specifically the dank and dirty mining towns that pepper the states rural northern frontier. To understand the power of this story, you must first understand that mines in these towns do not only provide jobs to local residents they form the lifeblood of this closed society, spreading their influence, both economic and social, to every tavern and dinner table.

Through a PVC pipe, darklyBy Sara G. Levin
Before crossing the southwest corner of Broadway and Leonard St., a scruffy young man eyed Lisa Batemans most recent public art installation without realizing exactly what it was. The white PVC pipe attached with metal straps to a blue construction barrier looks as if it could almost be a normal part of the construction site behind it.

Ballets Russes is on pointeBy Jerry Tallmer
The screen shows a still photograph of two feet in ballet slippers, toes to the floor. Look at those pointes! we hear a voice chortling. Look at that instep! The camera draws back and we see the owner of the voice, and of those exquisite ballerina feet, exquisitely extended. She is Mia Slavenska, born in Yugoslavia in 1914, leading dancer with Les Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo in her 20s, later the Blanche Duval to Frederic Franklins Stanley Kowalski in their famous rendition of Tennessee Williamss Streetcar Named Desire.